El Diente - North Slope

This trip is from several years ago and I just never finished the report. A recent forum discussion inspired me to finish it, and maybe someone will find it useful since this route will likely be in all summer for those with the proper gear... The original plan for this outing had been to climb El Diente by the standard route (North Slope), traverse to Mt. Wilson and then return to Navajo Lake by going down the North Slope of Wilson. Things did not go as plan, but it was still a great day in the mountains.

Day of Climb: September 1st, 2019

Trailhead: Navajo Basin

Peak: El Diente

Our day started just before sunrise from a camp slightly west of Navajo Lake. My group of 3 followed a nice trail to the lake and then we continued around the left side of it. After passing the lake we walked through a shrubby area and then crossed a talus slope leading us to the upper basin. This was about 1.5 miles from the lake and the turn off for the North Slope.

Immediately after looking up and seeing the conditions of the North Slope we knew we were screwed. Starting about a 1/4 of the way up it was almost completely snow covered and we had not brought crampons or axes. We didn't even have microspikes. It had never dawned on me that we might need crampons to climb the standard route for El Diente in September.

In my defense though, I was 3 months into my weekend warrior climbing project. My goal had been to climb every weekend from the beginning of June until finishing the 38 remaining 14ers on my list while working 55 to 60 hours per week. So, by this point of the project I was pretty exhausted and did zero research for this climb. It was a bad habit I was forming, I know, but I just didn't have the free time, and in those days I didn't frequent this site much either. Between work, climbing and twice a day dog walks I was averaging over 100 miles per week walking which left little time and energy for anything else. I did usually at least download a gpx track for each climb.

At first glance, the snow filled North Slope looked unclimbable without the proper gear and I was sure our day was done. I was really bummed. I knew it would be tough to complete my project before the end of summer without getting these in today. After discussing a few options we decided to just go for it and hoped the snow would be supportive. We really didn't have a good alternative so we continued on.

We entered the couloir after crossing a rockfall debris field and then climbed a large snowfield skirting the edge.

Then it was a talus hop.

We worked our way up through a mix of talus and scree. This bottom 1/4 of the couloir was completely melted out. It didn't take long to reach the snow and to our dismay it was completely bulletproof. There was no way we'd be climbing the snow in trail runners. The extreme left of the couloir was mostly melted out so we continued that way hoping it would remain clear of snow.

Climbing along the fringe of the couloir was very slow and tedious. Fortunately, rockfall was not really an issue as long as we were careful. We did, however, see someone dislodge a refrigerator size boulder from near the top of the buttress route. That was quite an amazing sight watching it careen down the mountain busting into dozens of pieces with explosive noises. Everytime I see someone say the buttress route is solid I think of this and the huge pile of rubble below the route

At this point, we then saw 2 climbers below working their way up the couloir in crampons. They were the smart ones! Despite us having a huge head start, they quickly passed and finished well before us with ease.

As we neared the top of the couloir we could see the headwall. My gpx track had us exiting to the right of the headwall so we looked for a good place to safely cross. I probed the snow in several locations and even got halfway across at a few places, but each time I turned back fearful of slipping and going for the longest glissade of my life. The snow was like a skating rink. We then reluctantly opted to continue towards the headwall and hoped we'd find another way.

At the base of the headwall we still couldn't find a way to reach the exit ramp to the ridge. So, with no other choice we exited the couloir to climbers left and started looking for an alternate route to the ridge.

Luckily, we found plenty of solid rock here and some fun climbing. With some creative route finding we were able to successfully meander up through some class 3/4 stuff and make our way to the ridge. We met the ridge near some pillars which we descended and then joined the standard traverse route.

The rest of the climb went smoothly and we quickly reached the top. It had taken much longer than planned, but we were happy to summit despite the challenges we encountered because of our poor planning.

At the summit, the decision was made to forego the traverse and return to our camp. This route had taken much longer than expected and we just didn't think we had the time. There really was no other good way though for us to get back to Navajo Lake. After ruling out the traverse we descended the South Slope and then had a really bad idea to bushwack around the base of El Diente. This took forever and I definitely don't recommend it. We made it though, but since it was after dark we camped another night and returned to our vehicles the next morning.

3 days wasted on El Diente was not ideal for finishing my weekend warrior project. This was especially true since I would be climbing El Diente again with the traverse, but I had every weekend already booked with other climbs until the middle of October. Luckily though, we had a beautiful fall, the snow came late and I got the El Diente to Wilson traverse done and finished my project.